wow Hypothetical Legion Timewalking Raid: How Should the Raid Be Picked?

[Starym 3,800]

 

Legion had some really good raids to offer and despite the fact that it's keeping the (very sad) tradition of the past 2 timewalking expansions and not adding a raid to their roster, I couldn't resist examining which the best pick for a potential later addition would be! While Legion TW is already pretty packed with content, with the Mage Tower and Mythic+, it wouldn't be too crazy to think that we might get a raid added in when it comes back after its first appearance in December.

I went over the 4 candidates (sorry Trial of Valor) over at Raider.IO, checked out some community poll results and came across a very interesting discussion regarding timewalking raids: should the raid chosen really just be the most popular/best one, or is there something to be said about redeeming a poorly received raid? And so I went over all 4 raids, their Race to World First history and whether the Nighthold really was the best choice, or if perhaps Emerald Nightmare should be given another shot. Here are a few excerpts featuring one of the 4 raid overviews and the conclusion, and you can check out the whole thing over at Raider.IO.

The Emerald Nightmare First off, let’s talk about the significance of The Emerald Nightmare. From a lore standpoint, the Emerald Nightmare had perhaps the most quoted/referenced boss of all time, as Il’gynoth’s little cryptic prophecies/lies/totally-accurate-predictions are brought up basically any time a storyline goes anywhere near them, including the recent Shadowlands Jailer-related events: In terms of the Emerald Nightmare raid itself, the reason most people may have ignored it could be because, aside from the big eye-tree whispers, it just wasn’t that memorable. Emerald Nightmare had a total of only 7 bosses, and the Race to World First (RWF) finished within merely TWO days time. In fact, the race technically only lasted one day if we measure the starting point as the time when the winning guild’s server first came up. Xavius, the final boss of the Emerald Nightmare, never got the attention he deserved. Despite it being a pretty cool boss fight with some engaging mechanics, Mythic Xavius was dead within only 18 hours of Exorsus entering the Emerald Nightmare on Mythic difficulty, making the Emerald Nightmare the shortest-lived instance in a long, long time. You’d have to go back all the way to Wrath of the Lich King’s poor Naxxramas 2.0 replica to find a shorter World First raid clear, and the Emerald Nightmare was not even significantly faster. ... Conclusion While The Nighthold may be the clear winner, there is a point to be made about perhaps giving a new life to a basically forgotten and poorly received raid. The Emerald Nightmare wasn’t a bad raid after all, and seeing it re-tuned might give it a new lease on life while showcasing it for some new players as well. Many players will continue heading to the Nighthold even without a Timewalking version to obtain the mount and see the awesome sights it has to offer, but no one is going to the Emerald Nightmare any time soon. There’s also something to be said about an upgrade vs. a “poor” replica, as any new version of Nighthold would certainly be a paler imitation of the original. The difficulty of a Timewalking version simply wouldn’t be up to par, and Blizzard might even skip the awesome Mythic-only phase of Gul’dan entirely. Speaking from personal experience, I progressed on Black Temple back during its World First race and cleared it many times during the Burning Crusade. When I replayed Black Temple in its Timewalking version, it was a bit of a letdown. It certainly wasn’t the original experience, and the very nature of Timewalking raids as shorter events intended for leisure and nostalgia actually took something away from the instance. I wouldn’t say it ruined my experience/memories of Black Temple, but it definitely left a slightly tarnished view of the raid in my mind. Regardless, I’m happy that players who didn’t get to experience it back then did get the chance now, so there’s a tricky balance to strike. Therefore, while it may seem like a silly idea to bring back the “worst instance” as Legion’s only Timewalking raid, the Emerald Nightmare does offer potential. A Timewalking version of EN would definitely feel more like “new” content than a revamped Nighthold, as a new Nighthold may not meet the exceedingly high standards of its die-hard fans. So, what do you think? Should Blizzard go with the iconic, visually stunning, bigger and better raid, or should they try to redeem and improve a smaller but poorly received one?

And then there's this meme I'm particularly proud of:

[Prophet001 598]

Nighthold or Tomb of Sargeras

 

I think Tomb represents the expansion better overall though.

[Frogspoison 63]

My opinion on whether or not it's ED or NH depends entirely on how they go with WoD timewalking.

Previous TW'd raids you could only run once/week, but SoO+ can be ran 3x/week. If they simply add an additional TW mode to WoD TW raid then I say NH or Tomb, but if they try to "merge" the difficulties like they've done with Ulduar and FL then I say ED.

[zigrifid 133]

No tomb of sargeras plz >.> id like antorus though ! 😛 

Tomb would be hell with pugs for some bosses (even second one)

Antorus was much better for pugs imo !

[Ricune 10]

Hopefully not ToS. Antorus, Nighthold and EN are all good raids

[Nym85 72]

Making the raid actually challenging when it is only available for one lockout makes no sense. People need to have a chance to progress in it. Unless they completely change how timewalking works so that it is always up (or at least the raids are), I don't see much of a point in "Remastering" old content.

Now IF they significantly revamp timewalking which I am all for, I'd rather the raids have a normal (or even LFR) and a heroic mode and they could perhaps remaster the latter; E.g. change Ulduar so that you have to do the hardmodes (by perhaps disabling the normal or adding an enrage if you don't execute the hard mode activation) and perhaps in later expansions adding in some Mythic only elements to HC Timewalking.

[Idrownfish 2]

Um, what about our Panda raid?  Hasn't WoD been waiting patiently in line too?